Cloud Computing

FMIT Solution

Challenge

Without a doubt, cloud computing is the hottest topic in IT right now. While the concept has been around for a long time, the platform maturity is now at a level where decision makers have a real choice to make when deciding on their IT strategy. The main reason for this is the domination of the market by Microsoft (Azure), Amazon (AWS) and Google. Each of these companies have had to create innovative and efficient datacentre technologies to be able to service the needs of their own core business. They have invested billions of R&D dollars into platform architecture and development which they then decided to make available to the public thereby creating an entirely new revenue stream for themselves.

A lot of companies are already using the Cloud in one form or another. The most common implementations we see involve E-mail and long-term backup data storage. Both of these strategies are relatively easy to implement and also, very importantly, easy to back out of so they are seen by decision makers as an ideal “toe in the water” exercise. The complexity starts to reveal itself when business systems, databases and critical applications are assessed for cloud readiness. Simply lifting and shifting these workloads into the cloud results in costly and inefficient environments which deliver very little business benefit. In addition to this, placing key business systems into the cloud can lead to unforeseen negative effects for businesses as it places additional stress on infrastructure such as network links which would never have been noticed when the workloads being accessed were on premises. Data Security is one of the main topics of conversation in all of our client engagements and there are two schools of thought on this. The first says “Cloud providers are a honeypot for hackers and therefore my data will be at risk if I place it there”. The second says “Because Cloud providers are a hacking honeypot the providers employ the very best IT security staff and use the latest defence mechanisms so my data will be far better protected than it is now”. The key to harnessing the power of the cloud lies in the rethinking of both system design and business processes.

FMIT Solution

Solution

It is a major undertaking for any company thinking about moving to the cloud, it is as much about mind set change as it is about infrastructure change and Fully Meshed IT, with our experience and know how, can guide you every step of the way. We can help you to define your business requirements, identify your workloads and discover which are best suited to the cloud. We can help you to decide which cloud model, if any, best suits your business and we’ll help you to achieve your cloud strategy goals.

I need to be able to scale my infrastructure rapidly whilst maintaining security and integrity of my data. Will the Cloud help me to achieve this?

Scalability and elasticity are two of the main benefits of the Cloud but each provider has their own cost model and using a scalable solution can be expensive and inefficient if the workload is not suited to it. We can help you to identify the elements of your infrastructure that are suited to the Cloud to enable you to realise the potential of the platform.

Cloud reduces capital expenditure by providing computing-as-a-service for a monthly fee. It lowers barriers to entry to many businesses and can be a very useful tool when used correctly. Contact us to find out how we can help you.

My business is subject to regulatory legislation, is Cloud even an option for me?

Financial and other regulated businesses need to tread carefully when planning a move to the cloud. Whilst cloud adoption in the US has been very fast, the UK and Europe have lagged behind in terms of regulatory bodies writing cloud computing into their legislation. That being said there are still many opportunities for these types of companies to leverage the cloud and we can help you to identify these opportunities.